Pronouncing Carrefour

by **sheeta728** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 8:51 pm

Just wondering, how do you pronounce the word
'carrefour'? (the international supermarket group)

I understand that different people from different culture pronounce it differently.

I heard people pronounce it as
"CAR FOUR" "CAR FOOL" "CARE FOOL" "CARE FOUR"

How does your culture pronounce the word.

Thank you :D

by **eric_p_m** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 3:27 pm

As you may be aware, "Carrefour" is the French word for intersection and road crossing: four cars coming together from the cardinal points of the compass.

I would venture to say that that there would be two main ways to pronounce the first syllable depending on how much French you knew. That should be where the "car" pronounciation comes from. Native English speakers without knowledge about French phonetics would not know how to handle the double "r" and eliminate it to produce "care".

As far as "four" is concerned, native English speakers should have no problem. The only time I have ever encountered a problem with the phonemes / f / and / p / has been when I was teaching Korean students. Korean speakers also have a the same problem with / r / and / l / just like Japanese speakers. This phenomenon would give way to the manifestations of "fool" and "pool".

I guess that this is just a shot in the dark as I don't know where you are in the world. Since I am a native English speaker from the US without much knowledge about French, I always pronounce it as "Carefour".

Sincerely,

Eric Paul Monroe

http://www.eric-tesol.com/

by **GiddyGad** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 3:37 pm

Hi chums,

I would say [ka:r'fu:r], but I'm not a native speaker.

Cheers,

GiddyGad

by **savioseb** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 2:21 am

It's an English word - means crossroads.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/carrefour

you can listen to the pronunciation here.

by **LyndseyP** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 2:09 pm

I lived in Indonesia for almost 7 years and Carrefour was a prominent store there. It was most commonly pronounced "car - e (short e) - four".

by **suzetteswart** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 8:09 pm

not one of th above is correct. Listen to the pronunciation in French. Problem is most English speaking people cannot pronounce the 'R' in French.

by **Syl** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 1:47 pm

It's amazing how things have developed since the question was posted such a long time ago LOL...

I've just looked it up in Google Translator, and you can choose the language you want to listen. If you type "carrefour" and choose French, the recording will say it in French; in English, it will be completely different.:)

http://translate.google.com/?hl=en#en|en|carrefour

Syl's English Corner - Learn English and Have Fun
http://www.ginnegar.0catch.com

by **eric_p_m** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 8:53 pm

Good job, Syl.

Google Translator is doing its best to mimic what a native English speaker would do: read a foreign word and try his or her best to pronounce it to the best of his or her ability. An alphabet represents phonemes in a given phonological context. French sounds never entered the mind of a native English speaker with no training in French phonetics.

The double 'r' would at best mark a syllable break in English, but the consonantal cluster / rf / is impossible in English. Hypercorrection or over generalization would lead an English speaker to reduce the double 'r' to just one... hence the phonetic realization [ kʰæɹ.foʊɹ ] ,standard American English, would manifest.

Improve your knowledge of English phonetics and speak English like or almost like a native Speaker: http://www.eric-tesol.com/course_descri ... ology.html

Sincerely,

Eric Paul Monroe

http://www.eric-tesol.com/

by **adventurematt** » Thu Jun 16, 2011 9:22 pm

As a native French speaker, I can say that it is correctly pronounced, car + French guttural R + foor with French R.

by **Syl** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:10 pm

oulala! :)

http://translate.google.com/?hl=en#fr|en|oulala!

Syl's English Corner - Learn English and Have Fun
http://www.ginnegar.0catch.com